Jonathan Skogmo on what sizzled and fizzled in 2014

Jukin Media's CEO and founder believes YouTube will reign in 2015, but competing platforms will begin to chip away at its dominance.

StreamDaily is asking some of the top execs in online video about the biggest trends of 2014, and some of the areas of opportunity they’re looking forward to next year. Below is a recent interview with Jonathan Skogmo, founder & CEO of Jukin Media.

What was the most important trend this past year that you think helped shape the online video industry?

It’s hard to ignore the consolidation of the industry with media conglomerates investing in or outrightacquiring online video companies. I think we’ll look back on 2014 as the year traditional media got around to seeing the potential in digital.

Any launches/deals that you think fizzled or failed to make an expected bang?

I expected Yahoo to make a bit more noise in video than it has. Not to say that it hasn’t done some things well, or that it won’t do more in the near future – via Tumblr, for instance – but there was a lot of talk about Yahoo doing something huge and we didn’t see that in 2014.

What are the biggest trends you’ll be watching to help grow your business in 2015?

We saw a significant shift in ad spending toward digital in 2014, and I believe the shift will continue at an even faster rate. The ROI brands and advertisers are seeing in digital far outweighs, in many cases, more expensive traditional advertising. We’ll also see more and more brands go out and create their own branded content, and Jukin is in a fairly unique place where, from a UGC perspective, we can help brands discover and leverage existing content that’s an organic fit for the brand.

Is there a particular player that you feel is poised to make a splash?

YouTube is going to continue to dominate video in 2015 and will for several years, but there are some competing platforms that will slowly start to chip away at it. Whether its Yahoo, Vessel, Vine, Ocho, Facebook or AOL – they’re all competing for the same eyeballs and advertising revenue. However, the pie will continue to grow, as online viewing continues to increase, so the ecosystem will be able to support some of these new entrants.